The millions of species of nonhuman animals do not exist to provide you with food that you do not need and is not natural. You do not have the anatomy of a carnivore, even Plutarch recognised this obvious fact some 2,000 years ago when he said:

…it is absurd for them to say that the practise of flesh-eating is based on nature. For that man is not naturally carnivorous is, in the first place, obvious from the structure of his body. A mans frame is in no way similar to those creatures who were made for flesh-eating; he has no hooked beak or sharp nails or jagged teeth, no strong stomach or warmth of vital fluids able to digest and assimilate a heavy diet of flesh. It is from the very fact, the evenness of our teeth, the smallness of our mouths, the softness of our tongues, our possession of vital fluids too inert to digest meat that nature disavows our eating of flesh. If you declare that you are naturally designed for such a diet, than first kill for yourself what you want to eat. Do, it however, only through your own resources, unaided by cleaver or cudgel of any kind or axe. Rather, just as wolves and bears and lions themselves slay what they eat, so you are to fell an ox with your fangs or a boar with your jaws, or tear a lamb or hare in bits. Fall upon it and eat it still living, as animals do. But if you wait for what you eat to be dead, if you have qualms about enjoying the flesh while life is still present, why do you continue, contrary to nature, to eat what possesses life? Even when it is lifeless and dead, however, no one eats the flesh just as it is; men boil it and roast it, altering it by fire and drugs, recasting and diverting and smothering with countless condiments the taste of gore so that the palate may be deceived and accept what is foreign to it.

If you eat meat consider the points that Plutarch made centuries ago, ask yourself what other animal cooks its food to make it edible, the fact that you need to cook meat is an indication that this food is not natural for humans.

Animals have their own lives, their own natures and purposes. A rabbit, a mink or a fox, to name just a few of the unfortunate creatures to be killed to provide some humans with a fur coat, are not on this earth for that purpose. The fur of these animals belongs to the creature who was born with it. Way back in time the killing of animals for meat or fur was the only option available, but now no human on earth needs meat or fur or the wool of sheep. Yet the fur trade thrives throughout the world with millions of animals killed for their fur to satisfy human greed and fickle fashion.

“In order to ensure that every person on the planet has enough food to eat, and ultimately protect our own survival, humans must look deep within themselves and choose the path that is the most compassionate, healthy, and sustainable. That path is veganism.”http://gentleworld.org/could-veganism-end-world-hunger/

Meat is also a detriment to our environment, for example 51 percent or more of global greenhouse-gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture, eating meat causes pollution and uses up huge amounts of water to name just a few of the problems to our environment we ignore in order for wealthy people in western countries to eat meat.

“Over 56 billion farmed animals are killed every year by humans. These shocking figures do not even include fish and other sea creatures whose deaths are so great they are only measured in tonnes.”http://www.animalequality.net/food

Over one billion animals are killed in the UK alone each year and there are 278 slaughter houses:

Indeed it breaks your heart that those affectionate calves will soon be killed in order for you who eat meat, to consume a food that you do not need and is now merely a luxury, which not only causes the harm mentioned above but is for you the meat-eater a serious detriment to your health and well being.

Whether it’s circuses, zoos, horse or dog racing oreven here in the UK the bizarre but ever more popular sheep racing, hunting, shooting, fishing, the use of animals for entertainment is wrong. As Rodger Moore quoted above says there are now “boundless opportunities for amusement“, circuses and other animal entertainment including the obviously sickening pastime of blood sports are now anachronisms of a bygone age and are barbaric abuses of sentient beings, animals who have as much right to live their lives as they so please, as nature intended not as an adjunct to human activity.

Below is a petition which shows that even sheep cannot escape being used and abused in so called entertainment;

Nothing shames the human species as its use of helpless animals for experimentation. There is no excuse for this cruelty, no justification, whether it is testing a defenceless rabbit, guinea pig, or rat for cosmetic or medical purposes for which in addition to the aforementioned animals primates may be used, also dogs and cats in medical testing. Life is precious to any animal as your life is to you, what right have any human to assert that their life is more important than that of another animal.

Right now, millions of mice, rats, rabbits, primates, cats, dogs, and other animals are locked inside barren cages in laboratories across the country. They languish in pain, ache with loneliness, and long to be free.

Instead, all they can do is sit and wait in fear of the next terrifying and painful procedure that will be performed on them. The complete lack of environmental enrichment and the stress of their living situation cause some animals to develop neurotic types of behavior such as incessantly spinning in circles, rocking back and forth, pulling out their own fur, and even biting themselves. After enduring a life of pain, loneliness, and terror, almost all of them will be killed.

Read the truth about the hideously cruel experiments inflicted on helpless animals and why they are unnecessary.

My own opinion is simple, there is no excuse ever and no reason that can ever justify such cruelty because animals have as much right to their lives as we do , and moreover to live their lives without the negative interference of humans, if is after all their world also .

This link has a wealth of quotations regarding the ethics of animal experiments such as the following, which in my opinion is one of the main reasons that still today animals suffer the agonies of experimentation.

“Results from animal tests are not transferable between species, and therefore cannot guarantee product safety for humans…

In reality these tests do not provide protection for consumers from unsafe products, but rather they are used to protect corporations from legal liability.”

In the modern age there are few tasks now that need the labour of an animal, yet still animals are used in warfare, the enforcement of law, to provide transport, carry goods and so on. Such labour may cause exhaustion, often physical pain, for example if animals are used to carry heavy loads, which is still the case in many parts of the world today. Animals may often be made to comply by the use of whips and other violent forms of coercion. Animals used by law enforcement or the military are exposed to danger and death, remember unlike policemen or women or a soldier the animal has no choice. Not only is this physically exhausting and stressful but at the end of the animal’s useful life he or she is more than likely to be killed if they have not already died of exhaustion.

For detailed information concerning the many uses and abuses of animals used for labour the following article is recommend

You can also read here in this blog about the plight of animals used in warfare:

How War Affects Animals

During WW1 eight million working horses lost their lives, along with countless donkeys and mules. Also one million dogs and pigeons and other birds whose numbers are not known. During this war 16 million innocent animals with no say in or understanding of the matter were forced into war. During the the battle of Verdun in 1916 7,000 horses died in one day alone.

Animals used as Pets may well come under the category of animals used as entertainment but it a bit more complex and less clear cut than that as often these animals provide companionship. Regarding the word pet I prefer the term companion animal, but for ease of writing I will use the word pet which is often an endearment also used to imply fondness of our fellow humans, so for some of us it does not have the same negative connotations.

In a perfect world no animal should be kept as a pet, and I wish this situation did not exist, but this is by no means an ideal world and the domestication of dogs and cats and other animals has progressed beyond the point of turning back. The opposition by many animal rights advocates including myself towards keeping a companion animal should not be considered as a call to release domesticated animals. Domesticated animals such as dogs, cats, rabbits and so on are now dependent on us for their survival, it would not be in the best interests of these animals to release them into the wild or let them lose in our streets where in both cases they would starve to death or come to other harm.

Moreover no advocate of animal rights wishes to remove companion animals from their homes. However we have a moral duty to take responsible care of the animals that we take into our homes and you will find that many animal rights activists and supporters have companion animals or take into their homes rescued animals in need of care. The stance by many animal rights activists is that companion animals who are already here should live long, healthy lives, in as natural a way as is possible, cared for with love and respect by the humans who take them into their homes as their guardians rather than their owners. I would personally like to see the phasing out of confined animals as pets such as rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, rats, fish, reptiles and end deliberate breeding of such creatures as companion animals. These creatures still exist in the wild where they should remain to live the lives that nature intends.

Having a pet or pets is a difficult subject and there are many conflicting opinions. I had three pet rabbits whom a miss very much. However all three came from rescue situations and needed homes. Whatever you decide regarding caring for a pet please adopt one from an animal rescue, if you live in the UK you can also go to the RSPCA who have many unwanted animals for adoption.

Please do not buy from a pet store and most certainly not backstreet breeders as this perpetuates the trade in and breeding of animals.

Please do not adopt an animal you cannot adequately care for or can afford, keep in mind vets fees can be considerable but a vital part of an animal’s well being and here in the UK a legal requirement. More advice is available in the above link.

There are just so many ways that animals are used by humans, some less of a problem than others but I firmly believe that in general animals are better off in their own environments to live their own lives as nature intended and are most certainly not here to feed you, clothe you, entertain you or keep you company, unless they so desire, or for use as labour. Life is as important to an animal as our lives are to us , it is their world to and each and every creature has a right to be here regardless of how useful or otherwise they are to humans.

Below is a guest post by the animal and human rights activist and supporter of free software Luis Leonel

SIMONS SUPPORTS CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

“Why would anyone want to wear clothing or accessorize a home with products containing wool or fur that has been ripped from the animals’ skin?,” asks PETA.

LA MAISON SIMONS, commonly known as SIMONS, a fashion retailer in CANADA based in the province of QUEBEC, will reply that many people want to because it continues to sell clothing and home accessories made of fur and angora wool from RABBITS WHO SCREAMED IN PAIN AND TERROR AS WORKERS RIPPED THE FUR OUT OF THEIR SKIN WHILE ALIVE EVERY THREE MONTHS. After several years, the rabbits who will survive this ordeal will be hung upside down and their throats be slit.

Please sign and share the following pledge and petition to help stop the cruelty of fur farming – there are more actions you can take further down to end the fur industry.

Petition

Tell Canada Goose to Stop Using Fur!

“Popular outerwear company Canada Goose uses coyote fur to trim their coats. Brand representatives claim their fur is sourced from certified trappers, but animal rights groups are still concerned.”

“With the availability of attractive and warm synthetic fur alternatives, there is no reason to continue using real fur and causing animals to suffer. Please sign the petition to urge Canada Goose to stop using real fur in their outerwear!”

Whether or not fur is acquired by certified trappers or otherwise the killing of an animal for his fur is wrong and deeply unethical. There is no need for fur with modern synthetics which are as warm and in my opinion even warmer. Besides fur belongs to the animal who was born with it, it is not ours to take, it’s as simple as that.

Take the Pledge

“A two-month PETA U.S. eyewitness exposé of Dillenburg Fur Farm, LLC, a massive fur farm in Wisconsin—the nation’s top mink-producing state—revealed that thousands of minks and scores of foxes were kept in rows of filthy, wire-floored cages until they were slaughtered—all so that their fur could be turned into coats and collars. Many animals were caged above piles of their own waste a foot tall.”

Please click the link below to read more and sign the “Take Action” pledge. The “Take Action” button appears right at the top so if you cannot cope with viewing upsetting photographs of animals you can go straight to the pledge.

Please sign the pledge even if you do not wear fur. Time to consign the wearing of the skins of the other species with whom we share this world to history where it belongs.There are many synthetic materials which are as warm if not warmer than fur. Fur is mostly worn because of the fickle whims of fashion by the fickle minded.

Killing other sentient beings for any reason is plain and simply wrong. The horrors of the fur industry are as horrendous as those of the meat industry and both need to come to an end now.

For more information about the fur trade and actions you can take to stop the rearing of animals for fur visit:Fur Out of the Closet

One of the best ways of course to bring an end to this sickening cruelty is to stop wearing fur – not as straight forward as it may seem.

Keep in mind that some fake fur may actually contain real fur. If in doubt do not buy fake fur. Personally I do not buy fake fur for this reason and also I feel it promotes the trade in real fur and encourages this wicked industry.

Below is a guest post by the animal and human rights activist Luis Leonel

American Fashion company BCBG MAX AZRIA refuses to stop selling angora and fur despite knowing that many animals used in these vile industries are stripped of their fur and skins while they are still fully conscious.Shocking undercover footage of China’s angora wool industry—where about 90 percent of the world’s angora comes from—shows workers tying rabbits down and violently ripping their fur out by the fistful.

BCBG also sells fur from Asiatic raccoons ( also known as raccoon dogs ) – animals who are often slammed to the ground and beaten on fur farms.Video footage shows one skinned animal who is still alive and who musters the strength to lift her bloody face up to look at the camera. These animals, along with foxes and other fur-bearing animals, suffer and die so that BCBG can turn their fur into vests, collars, and scarves.